Ten Actions You Can Take To Mobilize Your Workforce around Your Business Strategy - Part 5

5. Manage Accountability and Execution

The first root is Accountability. Accountability might seem an improbable candidate for building engagement but, in fact, it is exactly what the doctor ordered to increase engagement. This is because:

Accountability = Ownership = Engagement

So the question leaders should ask as they seek to enhance engagement is NOT how do we get our people more engaged but, rather, how do we build ownership and accountability. When you think about aligned engagement, this means building ownership for the successful fulfillment of your strategic priorities.

Accountability, when extended over a longer period of time, translates into execution. Execution is intimately linked to engagement.

The greater the engagement, the better the execution; the lower the level of engagement, the poorer the execution. But interestingly enough, the opposite is also true. Why? Because everyone wants to experience success and be part of a winning team. And when execution succeeds, the team experiences success and therefore becomes even more engaged. However, execution is a double-edged sword because when companies execute poorly and fail to achieve results, employees become disengaged. And there is ample evidence that most organizations are deficient at execution. For example:

More than 64% of C-Level executives from 250 midsized to large U.S. and European companies report that being able to execute is critical for their success but nearly impossible to achieve.

Only 27% of organizations fully integrate their strategy and tactics, and 58% integrate at the higher levels, but not at the lower levels.

Ten Actions You Can Take to Build Employee Engagement – Actions #2-4

#2 – Manage Accountability: Ensure your leaders hold people accountable for the success of your business initiatives and change efforts. Ensure that employees who don’t take accountability are held accountable, coached, and given the support they need to be successful. Don’t allow managers to turn their heads when people fail to act with accountability.

#3 – Focus on “Ownership”: Ensure you have a culture in which employees are encouraged to take ownership for achieving your overall company goals. Don’t allow employees, teams, and managers to be harshly criticized and black-listed when they make honest mistakes. This leads to the avoidance of ownership, cover ups, finger pointing, and disengagement.

#4 - Become Obsessed with Execution: Build a culture that pays as much attention to follow-through as it does to developing solutions and clever ideas. Develop execution plans for all key initiatives, including, but going beyond, project planning and, instead, focusing on engagement.